Facilitator Development
Celebrating Black Female Facilitators
In the U.S., February is African American history month. It began as a celebration of contributions by African Americans at a time when those contributions were not remotely recognized. This month is meant to be a tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity and oppression in achieving full citizenship in American…
The Importance of Pauses in Process Work
I rarely pause in my life. My family would attest to this fact. Yet life goes better with pauses. I have learned this the hard way. In process facilitation, pauses are an incredibly important part of the entire agenda. If you don’t pause at the right moments, you miss the opportunity for such things as…
Facilitator Math – When You Need to Use Numbers to Get Better Results
Most facilitators are not really into math, but you may need to be. I keep discovering how important it is to watch numbers and patterns (the underlying structure of math) when you are conducting a facilitated session. Here are two quick tips to get really good results. One is something all facilitators seem to get…
The 9 (Inner) Disciplines of the Facilitator
Last week, at an IAF sponsored workshop, my colleagues Jackie Chang from Taiwan, Kevin Xu from China and myself co-designed and delivered our workshop on the “Being of the Facilitator” in Guangzhou, China. One of the resources that we thought would be helpful was called “The Nine Disciplines of a Facilitator” by Jon and Maureen…
Brilliant Facilitation Tools for Reflective Thinking & Problem Solving
I took my first ToP class in December 1995. Over the last 24 years, it has revolutionized my life, my closest relationships, my facilitation practice and my business. I am deeply grateful to the pioneers of ToP for having systematized processes that I use on a daily basis as reflective thinking and problem-solving tools, and…
Art of Maintaining a Clear & Focused Facilitator Mind
I just came off a silent meditation retreat. I do these every year to clear my mind. It also helps me set new intentions and practices. I know that as facilitator I need to come to the group with a clear and sharply focused mind. There are many ways to develop a mind free from…
Sustaining Enthusiasm, Energy & Excitement in Facilitation
I’ve been thinking about long term relationships for the last little while. I realize that I’m quite a loyal person and I have many long term friendships, partnerships with colleagues and maintain deep connections to my original family. I know also that the world is changing so quickly and that it is both tempting and…
Three Ideas to Help Your Facilitation Blossom
Facilitation training, certification and attending an International Association of Facilitators (IAF) conference are three of the best ways to make your facilitation profession blossom. In today’s blog, I’ve decided to share photos of my journey to Singapore where I spent four days doing ToP facilitation training, mostly advanced. Have you considered any of the facilitation…
The Being of the Facilitator, What Does It Look Like?
The “being of the facilitator” keeps coming up recently as a phrase amongst my colleagues around the world. Someone even invited me to do a workshop on this topic. I thought it would be helpful to write about this as a way to gather my thoughts. My Netherlands colleague, Mireille Beumer, joins me today as…
Staying Calm When the Group Hates Your Facilitator Process!
Or you, the participant hate the process! Some people profess to not like process. I guarantee that at times in meetings, it might be as high as 75%+ of the group who are not enjoying the process. If you could hear people think out loud it might sound like this, “Why can’t everyone just think…
